Envelope-machine



UNITED STATES EETQE.

PATENT ENVELOPE-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 226,331, dated April 6, 1880.

Application filed January 17, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, DANIEL M. LESTER, of Norwich, Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Counting Attachments for Envelope-lvlachines, of which the following is a specification.

My improvement relates to attachments to envelope-machines for the purpose of counting and arranging the envelopes in packs of twenty-five as they are passed out of the folding and gumming machine; and it consists in certain devices, to be hereinafter described and claimed, whereby the receiver is shunted to first one side and then the other, as often as twenty-five envelopes are delivered into said receiver; and also in a certain arrangement for preventing a count being made unless an envelope passes over.

The following is a description of the figures of the drawings, in which like letters refer to the same parts.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the entire attachment. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section, showing the principal working parts of the machine. Fig. 3 is a detailed view of a part of the serpentine cam. Fig. 4 is a detailed view of the check arrangement for the pawl. Fig. 5 shows packs of envelopes as deposited in the receiver.

A is the platform of the attachment, which is connected with an ordinary envelope-folder, which, of course, need not be shown in the drawings.

B is the receiver, into which the envelopes are automatically placed in packages of twentyfive as delivered from the folder.

C is a weighted slide to hold the packs in place until removed.

D is a plate which forces each envelope separately into its place in the pack forming in the receiver.

E is a cam upon shaft F, which operates upon the short end of the lever D, which carries forward and backward the push-plate D.

G is a second cam upon the same shaft for operating a forked lever, K. This last is jointed to and reciprocates a second lever, I, which carries at its outer end a pawl, J, for operating the circular rack H. This rack has fifty teeth, and rotates once for each two packs of envelopes carried to place in the receiver.

This circular rack has connected to it, or integral with it, as may be preferred, a serpentine cam whose direction is changed at the two points 0 and f.

In the groove of the serpentine cam is a pin, 9, connected to a jointed lever, L M, for shunting the receiver from side to side, as stated above. One end of L is secured to the frame of the machine, and serves as a fulcrum. The other end is secured to the under side of the receiver B.

75, Fig. 2 is a coil-spring to force back pawlarm I.

Fig. 4, a, is a short lever attached to the rockshaft N, which carries a pendent plate or projection, h, lying directly in the path of the envelopes. This short lever a is pivoted to an upright, b, which, in its turn, is jointed to an arm, (1, at c. This arm (I carries, bent at right angles to it, a check-plate, 0, which passes directly under the pawl J, filling up the tooth of the rack, so that said pawl, when moved forward, will slide over without turning forward the rack H. Whenever the top of an envelope, in its passage forward, forces aside the plate h, this' plate 0 is taken out.of the path of the pawl, which can then perform its function of turning forward the circular rack H one-fiftieth of its circumference.

The handle at left of Fig. 1 is merely for convenience of operating the machine by hand.

The operation of this machine is as follows, viz: In practice F may be the usual drivingshaft of the folding-machine, carrying the two cams E and G. It will be readily seen that by the revolution of the cam E the lever D is reciprocated, and through it the plate D pushed forward with the envelope in front of it as dropped from the folding-machine. The top of this envelope, as it passes forward, forces forward the plate h, which, through the intermediate mechanism above described, raises the check-plate 0 out of the path of the pawl J, which is operated by the smaller cam Gr through levers K and I.

If by any means an envelope is not dropped before the plate D, then the plate 0 is not rc- IOO ty-five teeth, or received twenty-five forward movements from the pawl above described, then the pin 9 is turned from its course by either the turn 0 or f in the path of the serpentine cam attached to the disk-rack H and moving with it.

It will be readily seen from the above that although the machine continues its revolutions and the plate D moves backward and forward, yet the rack-wheel cannot go forward a single count until the top of a passing envelope forces forward the projection hand lifts the obstructing plate away from the pawl.

It will also be seen that as often as twenty-five envelopes are counted the pin gchanges to one side by a turn or bend in the path of the serpentine cam, and, through its lever-connections, shunts or switches the receiver B an inch or so to one side. Thus while the envelopes go forward in a direct line the receiver, as fast as twenty-five are passed through into it, slides an inch or so to right and left, and continues these movements. This leaves each package of twenty-five an inch or so projecting either to right or left of the others. These packs can then be very rapidly and safely removed with no danger, to speak of, of being mixed with each other.

I am aware that it is not broadly new to throw envelopes into packages of twenty-five (as they are fed forward) by means of alternately depressing the edges of the table, thus partially rotating it about a central axis; but this construction in the machines commonly made for the market requires a somewhat complicated arrangement of parts; and it is to lessen the number of parts and difficulties of construction and simplify generally the counting-machine that I have devised means for shunting the table from side to side in the same horizontal plane. This leaves the envelopes also standing horizontally, and thus lessens in practice the difficulty of removing each package without one envelope slipping from its place.

I lay claim to no devices shown in Patent No. 151,158.

I am also aware that it is not broadly new to reciprocate a table in the same horizontal plane for the purpose of laying out sheets of paper in piles of a certain number, and I therefore only lay claim to the new devices or instrumentalities by which I reciprocate the receiving-table of my envelope-machine.

I am also aware that devices are not broadly new for preventing the count unless an envelope absolutely passes to its place, and I therefore do not claim, broadly, such devices.

What therefore I claim as my invention is- 1. In a counting attachment for envelopemachines, a horizontal receiver reciprocated to one side and the other in the same horizontal plane by a lever operated by a serpentine cam attached to a rack wheel of fifty teeth, said rack-wheel being automatically moved forward through the communicated revolutions of the operating-shaft.

2. In combination with a reciprocating pushplate, D, of an envelope-counting machine in which the receiving-bed reciprooates in a horizontal plane only, a projection, h, hanging down in the path of the envelopes and operated by each as it passes, said projection h being upon a shaft which, through lever-connections, operates to remove a check-plate from the path of the pawl, which forces forward a circular rack and serpentine cam.

3. In an envelope counting machine in which the bed moves only in a horizontal plane, a rack-wheel of fifty teeth, carrying a serpentine cam with two breaks or bends, e and flinits path, anda pin moving inits groove and connected with a jointed lever to reciprocate sidewise the receiver for the envelopepacks.

DANIEL M. LESTER.

Witnesses H. H. BURNHAM, LUOIUS BROWN. 

